A Shadow, an Eon, and a Sidestory
by ShadowVulpix
Summary: As the title suggests, the sidestories for A Shadow, an Eon, and a Worm, a Worm/Pokemon crossover. All of these can be considered canon to the story, they're just being put here for the sake of keeping the main story nice and organised. Since this is just in the Pokemon world, I've not listed it as a crossover.
1. Introduction

Hey, folks! Welcome to a new place!

This is the sidestory segment for my Worm/Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fic, _A Shadow, an Eon, and a Worm_. Go read that first if you haven't, because nothing else in this will make sense if you don't.

You've done that? Good.

Basically, these sidestories are all going to be backstory for the main story, giving you a look into the past of the team, some of the missions that've been mentioned, and some of the life Shadow and Eon have lived up to the point of the beginning. Some of the stories are kinda obvious as to where they go in the timeline, either through deduction or just me blatantly saying so in the chapter, while others are a little harder to figure out. In that case, I'll be putting a label at the beginning to give an estimate of where in the timeline they are.

I'm putting this as a separate story to the main for the sake of organisation, because that way you aren't going to be reading the main chapters and suddenly run into a sidestory, since you might not want to read that.

Updates will be sporadic at best, because I'm never really sure as to what sort of things I want to write about. There might also be ones written by other people in this collection if I decide they fit the canon and don't contradict anything. All of those will be clearly labelled with the original author should that come about.

I hope you all enjoy going onward into the past of _A Shadow, an Eon, and a Worm_!


	2. Letters

**This, quite obviously, takes place at the very end of the timeline, giving a bit of setup to the earlier points in the series.**

* * *

**Letters**

_Dear Momma and Pa,_

_I've finally made it, Momma! Sorry it took so long, there was a little bit of trouble on the road with some Dungeon Pokemon, but a little bit of Ember sent them right off, just like you said it would! Then when I got here I had to find a place to stay, too, and this nice Arcanine pointed me towards the hotel in town- it's run by a Blissey and an Audino and their daughter Chansey, and they're really nice. They asked all kinds of questions about my journey and why I was here, and they promised to let me stay as long as I needed to._

_Turns out that Arcanine is the leader of one of the local Rescue Teams from the Guild. His team mate's a Gardevoir, and they offered to put in a good word for me at the Guild when I decide to join, or they'll let me into their team if they say no!_

_That's not very likely, apparently. Guildmaster Wigglytuff is well known for letting any Pokemon join to test their skill; it's his assistant, Chatot, that might be a problem. He's pretty strict, they said, so he might not let a kid join._

_That's annoying. I know I'm pretty young, especially for a Vulpix, but I know a lot because of everyone in the family. Seems stupid to not let me in just because of my age, and not because I'm weak._

_Anyway, I'll write again really soon, I promise! Hopefully something interesting will've happened… maybe I'll even be a Rescue Pokemon by then!_

_Love you, _

_Shadow._

* * *

_Dear Momma and Pa, _

_Thanks for writing back so quick. I've been really missing Elixa, Deltien, Luriean, and Kaltria, and it's nice to know they miss me too! I'll do my best to send some souvenirs from the town as soon as I've started as a proper sort of Rescue Pokemon. Alma is a pretty cool little town, with a massive amount of meadows really close by. Lots of Pokemon live on them, and the area near the streams gets used as farmland a lot. Maybe I'll be able to buy a camera soon and take some pictures to send you!_

_Oh, something pretty interesting happened the other day! I went for a walk around again, mostly just to get used to things and do a bit of practice. There's private training grounds for Rescue Teams, but there's also public ones for anyone to use, so I was going there to practice Magnet Rise- thank Uncle Makus and Gramp Lecan for teaching me that, by the way, it's really cool and some of the Pokemon I've met found it really weird; they didn't know a Mawile could learn Magnet Rise either!_

_Anyway, I went there to practice for a little while, I want to be as powerful as I can before I apply to the Guild, and I met another Pokemon who was there! His name was Eon, and he's a __shiny__ Ninetales! His fur's all grey and silvery and really sparkly in the sun- I get why they're called shiny now- and his tail tips are light blue instead of orange._

_I went over to introduce myself to him, then went to practicing, but he looked like he was having trouble with some kinda simple Fire type Moves, so I offered him some help with it. We talked for a while, and it turns out he was one of those transformed Pokemon! Like the one from the story Gram told us, about that Totodile and that Pikachu and the meteor!_

_He's only recently transformed, a few months ago, and some of the local Pokemon found him passed out in the woods a little while away. The one's that found him- apparently it was that team of Arcanine and Gardevoir from before! Small world, huh?- helped him adjust, but just about everyone in town knows about who he is. That, and him being shiny, made them a little wary of him for a while, which is kinda sad, but they've gotten used to him now, and it's not as bad._

_But he's only just started practicing his Moves, since for the most part he was working on moving right and learning stuff, but he couldn't manage to do it._

_We spent… kinda a long time, a few hours, working on it, and by the end Eon was able to keep an Ember going for ages, like a few minutes! It was almost a Flamethrower in length, just the power was too weak compared to when you or Pa do it. And Eon looked so __happy__ when he managed it, like when Kaltria managed to use Roar properly for the first time! It was kinda cute, like a little kit running about. We walked back into town togheter, and he couldn't stop thanking me for the help, though he was kind of awkward about it; I don't think he's very used to dealing with other Pokemon, which makes sense if he used to be a human, lost all his memories, then had loads of trouble integrating into the town._

…_man that sounds really sad when put like that._

_But, well, other than that there's not been much. I'm gonna try applying for the Guild in a few days, once I've got some things totally down. I want to get used to using Charge too, and perfect Magnet Rise if I can. Then I'm gonna focus a lot on my Fire Moves, and Extrasensory. Hopefully that won't take too long, then I can become a Rescue Pokemon!_

_Love you!_

_Shadow._

* * *

_Dear Momma and Pa,_

_Thanks for the idea in your letter back! I didn't think about maybe asking Eon if he wanted to join with me as a Rescue Pokemon on my team. That'd probably be really cool, especially once Eon's better with his Moves._

_Eon came to me the next day and asked if I could help him again, since it was really helpful getting help from someone who knew what they were doing. We've been practising the last few days together, and it's actually been helping me as well! Trying to teach someone's really hard, actually, and that's with Eon being nice and listening- sorry for all the trouble we gave you as kits, Momma, if __this__ is this hard I hate to think how hard __we__ made it for you- but it's been useful too. Eon asks a lot of questions, and trying to answer it means doing a bit of thinking- I mean, the difference between a Flamethrower and a really powerful Ember __seemed__ obvious, but trying to explain it? Nuh-uh._

_Anyway, we've been working together a lot, mostly me teaching him, but someones some of the Rescue Team Pokemon end up using the public training grounds rather than the Guild ones- that's what the private ones are, by the way. I found that out the other day- and they sometimes help out when they hear that I want to be a Rescue Pokemon too. Arcanine and Gardevoir were here this morning- Arcanine helped me get my Ember even stronger ready to learn Flamethrower, and Gardevoir taught the both of us Extrasensory!_

_Well, taught Eon Extrasensory. I already know it, of course, but she helped me get it way better- maybe because she was demonstrating more with a weakened Psychic than Extrasensory, but it's a lot more stable now._

_Arcanine and Gardevoir offered to help teach us more while we're getting prepared for making a Rescue Team, or just while we're getting used to things around Alma. Both of us took them up on that, and Eon did mention an interest in maybe becoming a Rescue Pokemon in the future, which is great!_

_I've been doing a lot of wandering around the town over the last few days too, just getting used to everything and meeting new Pokemon. Kangaskhan runs the local storage department, which uses Rescue Badges to link to other special statue-things in the field to let Rescue Teams take out their items on missions, which is __so__ neat, and there's a Dusklops that runs the bank with his younger brother Duskull. You can't take out money in the field, but you can put money in, using the same thing that Kangaskhan uses, and apparently the different banks in different towns can link using your badge again- I have __no__ idea how it all works, but it's so cool._

_I went to the fields too, the river meadow bit is owned by a Lilligant, Torterra, and Feraligator as a group. You can rent out segments of the river bit to use as farms, there's a discount for renting under your team, while the fields where Pokemon tend to build housing and stuff is owned by a Conkeldurr and Gothitelle. Rescue Teams are the main ones that use the fields to buy places like that, most Pokemon rent or build in the town itself, but the big fields make it easier for larger teams to live in the area._

_Arcanine's team has a couple of other team mates, and they normally pair up together and go out on missions with that pair- so there's always a mission on the go on that team, and if something goes wrong, there's always a couple of Pokemon that're waiting to go and help. I'll write more soon, Momma and Pa, I promise. Maybe someday you'll be able to come and visit here in Alma and we can show you all around!_

_Love you, _

_Shadow._

* * *

_Dear everyone,_

_I did it! I'm officially a Rescue Pokemon now! You're speaking to Shadow, second-in-command of Team Inari!_

_Yeah, second. Bit of a story._

_I went to the Guild yesterday to try and register as a Rescue Pokemon, then I was going to ask Eon to join the Team as well- I asked Arcanine, and he told me some stuff about getting started, like how they give extra badges so you can give them to other Pokemon that get recruited into the team; I have no idea how they manage to do the badges that quickly when you register, but they're normally done a few hours after. They make you go through some introduction stuff first, then get given the badges afterwards so you can start._

_Anyway, I went over and asked Chatot how to register, and he brought me into talk to Guildmaster Wigglytuff. They told me I couldn't join up as a team leader, because of my age, and that meant I couldn't start a solo team and then recruit Eon either._

_I was kinda... upset about that, so I left and promised to come back- the age limit is minimum __thirteen,__ dang it, so it'd be another three whole years before I could sign up- then went to the training ground to blow some fire and calm down a bit._

_Eon was there too, we've taken to meeting up at about the same time, spending the morning working together, then going out separate ways for the afternoon to do other things- normally I'm looking around, and I dunno what he does. He asked where I'd been, so I explained the idea of making a Rescue Team, and the fact that I couldn't because I was too young to be allowed to be a Team leader by Guild rules._

_I set up for a bit of target practice; it's something we've been doing the last few days, ever since Gardevoir helped us with Extrasensory. I lift some bits of wood in the air, Eon tries to hit them with Embers, then we swap. Thank goodness for Flash Fire, and we've both gotten really good at putting out fires with our Extrasensory as well. So we did that for a bit, then just before we were going to go leave Eon suggested that, since I wasn't allowed to make a Rescue Team by myself, maybe we could make one together instead, with him as the leader because he's older than me._

_We went to the Guild again together to go and get that set up, and they let us this time because Eon was probably old enough to run a team- because of the whole amnesia thing, no-one actually knows for sure, but the Guildmaster was ok with it and didn't let Chatot try to object. _

_So yeah, I'm now second-in-command of Team Inari! It's... not exactly what I was expecting when I left home to come be a Rescue Pokemon, but it's still cool! Once we start doing some Dungeon work and stuff, we'll probably end up recruiting more members, and Eon and I were talking about getting a bit of land to use as a home for us and anyone we recruit. I'm gonna be staying in the hotel for a little while longer, for the sake of getting everything set up, but that's fine. I'm just happy to be on a Rescue Team now, even if it's as a second and not as a leader like I thought. We also made sure to get a box registered with Kangaskhan before we started on missions, and did the same with the Dusclops bank too._

_Oh, and speaking of shops, that reminds me! I was wandering around yesterday, thinking about what I was gonna say when I applied to the Guild, and I stumbled across a place run by a Smeargle, which lets you borrow a camera and take pictures, then print then out! It was a little expensive, sure, but it wasn't too bad, so I took some pictures for you! You've probably already seen them, they probably fell out of the envelope, but they're there if they didn't. I took a picture of my new Badge too, it looks pretty nice, the back even has the team name engraved on it for identification. I __really__ want to know how they do that so quickly, because it's really neatly done._

_Anyway, Eon and I talked about it and we decided we're gonna take a quick mission tomorrow, because the Guild helps you decide what you should be doing for the first few months and sometimes sets tasks for you, then you can graduate if you want to try the test and they think you're ready for it. We're going to ask Conkeldurr and Gothitelle to help us build a base for us and any Pokemon we might end up recruiting as well, and we'll need to start going on shopping trips for stuff as soon as we start taking longer trips, but from what Arcanine told us the Guild only sends you on trips to nearby Dungeons for the first few weeks, to help you get used to things, then they let you pick missions that have more travel time._

_I'll write again soon!_

_Love, _

_Shadow._

* * *

_Dear Momma and Pa,_

_Sorry it's been so long since I wrote, but this last week's been really hectic. Who knew setting up a Rescue Team was so much work? Even still, we've done loads and it's been really nice._

_Straight away the first morning we went and talked to Conkeldurr and Gothitelle about building a place for our team, and we found them already waiting! Apparently Gothitelle is pretty good at using Future Sight, so she knew there was going to be someone coming by to ask for help today. We set up for things to get started on the building, then we went to the Guild for our first mission. Chatot helped give us an easy one to start with, finding an Oran Berry in the Ilix Forest- by the way, something really confuses me about that. Berries and Battle Orbs and stuff are really cheap to buy at the Kecleon Mart, so why don't Pokemon that want them just go there and buy them instead of asking Rescue Teams to do it? Or maybe it's a Rescue Team thing at the market, like our Badges making it cheaper for us to buy because we go into Dungeons?_

_Anyway… the Ilix Forest was pretty easy; it's a four floor Dungeon, and mostly made up of Grass and Bug types, so two Fire types like me and Eon didn't have any trouble, but something really weird is the amount of __stuff__ in the Dungeons. We found a little over a hundred Pokè in there, not to mention all the berries and the Blast Seed we found, and we weren't really trying! I guess it's just a Dungeon thing, but it's really a bit weird. We found the berry ok though, and our client gave us another hundred Pokè as a reward, too._

_Eon and I split up at first to go and put the Pokè in the Duskull bank and the items in Kangaskhan storage, then we met up again to go and see if we could find the Pokemon that owned the river area. We ran into Lilligant and had a chat about it- I told Eon about our little berry farm we have at home, by the way, and he thought it might be a good idea for Team Inari to have one as well. It'd mean we wouldn't need to worry about finding or buying berries as much for our missions, and we could also sell the berries or trade them for things if we needed to. It's three hundred Pokè a month to rent the land, though, so we decided not to right now and come back to it; we might still need to buy supplies, we would need to pay for the building, and both of us were still renting a place to live in town, so we had to pay for that too. Later on, though, we'll start a berry farm down there._

_Most of the rest of the week was more missions, mostly retrieving lost items or finding new ones, and one rescue of a Caterpie that'd gotten lost in the woods, but one really fun one was an escort mission. A Beldum wanted to see if base of a place called Strange Cave, and had asked for a Rescue Team to escort them down there. That place was __long__, ten whole floors, but we found loads of stuff there. We didn't spend as much time exploring each floor, because Beldum sometimes got into trouble and we had to go and rescue them, and we stopped twice to let them recover, but we still left the Dungeon with more than a thousand Pokè plus all the items we'd found. There's nothing interesting at the bottom of Strange Cave- you'd think there would be, with that name- but Beldum didn't mind. We got two hundred Pokèfrom that one, plus a Sitrus Berry as a gift, and Eon's already been planning on going back when we can to look around more thoroughly._

_The best thing was the very end of this week, though. Chatot finally gave us an outlaw mission to do! Calm down Momma, it wasn't that bad. We were asked to go find a Machoke that'd stolen a Thunderbolt TM and then gone to hide somewhere in the Dungeon, a place called the Old Ruins. They got destroyed a long time ago. It was eight floors deep, and we found Machoke on the fifth floor and managed to take him down and get the TM back. Eon and I decided to keep exploring though, because we were finding a lot of Pokè and items down there, so we went right down to the bottom._

_There was a big stone wall there with a picture of some kind carved into it, but neither of us could make out what it was. We were gonna leave then, but then Eon suddenly went all sick and dizzy and then he collapsed! I was really really worried about him, but he was ok pretty quickly after that. The next bit was really cool, though; he'd seen a vision of the past!_

_Apparently it'd happened to him before, back when he'd first arrived, but that time he'd seen something in the future- he wouldn't tell me what. This time he saw when the Ruins were destroyed; some kind of big white Pokemon with black markings appeared from the bottom and started rampaging, which wrecked it all. Eon's been carefully looking into what it might be when he has time, since he doesn't recognise it, and when I mentioned that our family are Talekeepers we decided I'd ask you the next time I wrote. We've also decided we aren't going to mention that vision thing to anyone, though. We don't know what causes it, or what other things might be connected to it, so it's probably best to keep it a secret. So don't tell anyone else please, Momma, Pa?_

_We went back to the Guild after Eon was better and gave the TM back to the Pikachu who'd been robbed, and she gave us five hundred Pokè and a Reviver Seed, which is really cool, because those are rare and expensive. When we left, we went and put everything away before we went over to check on the building, and it was all finished! We arranged to pay for it, and it's a good thing we thought carefully about renting that river bit, because it was ten thousand Pokè!... It kinda sounds like a lot more than it is, though. We find a lot of Pokè when we're exploring Dungeons, and we get paid a bit as well, but it was still a big dent. I went back to the Smeargle and rented a camera again to take some pictures of it, they're in the envelope too, and we're both planning on moving in as soon as we have some time to arrange everything. We're going to save for a few more weeks before we start making a berry farm, we've decided, because that way we'll have enough Pokè stored to buy some of the rarer berries that sometimes show up in the Kecleon market. Hopefully we'll be able to get our berry farm stocked with a lot of nice ones that we can take with us on trips._

_Anyway, that's been our week! Lots of stuff's happened, which is really cool, and being on a Rescue Team is so much fun. We'll probably be doing a lot of stuff while we work with the Guild, because according to Arcanine they like to push new recruits to make sure they get good quickly so they're not at risk, which is good because it means more Pokè for us! I'll try and write again as soon as I can, so you'll know when something interesting happens, and Eon and I will be careful not to get hurt, I promise._

_Write back soon too!_

_Love, _

_Shadow._

* * *

"Momma, Momma!"

Kuibiena glanced up at the call and accompanying sound of paws and claws clattering along wooden floors, then put the letter down and stood in a sweeping movement.

"Hello kits." She smiled, as a Vulpix and three Absol hurried through the door in a tangle of limbs and tails.

"Morning, Momma!" Deltien called, over the top of his sister's head. Kaltria growled, shoving her elder brother to one side, making him whine over-dramatically and fall. Elixa and Luriean swapped exasperated glances, and the eldest Absol went over and dragged him to his feet by the horn.

Ignoring his whining, Luriean came over and sat at her feet, looking up and sideways at her. "Has Shadow written again, Momma?"

"Not yet, Lur." She sighed, nudging his head crest gently.

"Aww…" He grumbled, pouting and looking down.

"Shads' still on her mission?" Elixa asked, leaving her younger siblings alone and joining them.

"That's weird, it's been _ages_." Kaltria huffed. "She's never done one this long before!"

"She's just busy, kits." Kuibiena assured them, putting the letters away with half a thought as the other two Absol sat next to their siblings. "She's been busy before, remember?"

"Yeah, but that was the expedition." Deltien pointed out. "She had the Guild with her then, and that Arcanine's team with helped out. Shadow said it was just her and Eon this time."

"Eon's powerful, though."

"And Shadow is, too!" Luriean added, backing up his elder sister. "Plenty powerful to deal with whatever she ends up against!" Kuibiena smiled a little; her youngest Vulpix massively looked up to his slightly-elder clutch mate, and she was fairly sure _he_ was thinking of becoming a Rescue Pokemon too when he was older, following in his sister's footsteps. It was always adorable to see him stick up for her against the Absol of the family when they worried about Shadow's ability.

Not that any of them looked down on her; she was powerful enough that her team was Hyper Rank after only two years, a great feat, and she'd basically trained non-stop for about a year before she'd actually left, just to make sure. All of them were proud of their second-eldest sister, but they did worry sometimes because they all knew her job would get dangerous, wandering in Dungeons all the time with hostile Pokemon.

"I'm sure both Shadow and Eon will be fine, kits." She soothed, making all four look up at her again. "Both of them are powerful, even if they don't have the rest of the team with them. Whatever it is they're doing, they'll handle it brilliantly and come back to tell us all the story."

Both Kaltria and Luriean's eyes lit up at that, while both Deltien and Elixa grinned.

"Shadow's stories are always cool." The latter nodded. "Even if some of them are a bit weird."

"And even though sometimes Eon wished they weren't." Her brother snarked. Kaltria pushed him slightly, growling.

"Don't be mean." She scolded, before giggling. "Even if Trikani was kinda funny."

"Poor Eon." Kuibiena agreed, looking amused. She thwapped Deltien on the nose with a tail as he growled back at his sister. "No fighting, you two. Now, who wants to come with me to the market?"

"Me!" Four voices called out in tandem, followed by chuckles.

"Then go get your bags and scarves, and we can go."

"Can we buy something there?" Deltien asked, as the two girls dashed for the door and Luriean followed slowly behind.

"I don't see why not, as long as you're good and it's not too expensive." She allowed. "What were you thinking of getting?"

"Not sure." He shrugged. His mother could read the lie in his body language, but she knew she wouldn't get it out of him; if anyone had inherited the stubbornness from her father, it had been Deltien- so she just let it go.

"Alright, take some money with you, and tell your siblings." She nodded. He grinned, then turned tail and dashed away.

"I will!"

"Having fun, dear?" Kuibiena turned, rolling her eyes at her mate.

"Of course I am. You know those four; at least they're easy to distract with other things."

"Don't I know it." Lukos laughed, leaning down to nuzzle her face. "I'm heading out to the dig site, the others think they've found something and want me to check it for traps."

"Be careful, love." She said seriously. "Don't go getting hurt because you missed something, ok?"

"I'll be careful, I promise." He nodded. "I'll probably be gone for a few days, trying to Teleport Dark types still tires Butterfree out something fierce, but depending on what's there it might be a little longer than that."

"That's fine, I'll tell the kits." She smiled, hearing the four of them getting into an argument on the landing above. "Or you can tell them yourself, of course."

"I don't need to leave for a little while yet, I'll do it." Lukos wandered off, calling to the four at the top of the stairs, and Kuibiena laughed to herself before looking over at the box again and sighing.

Gently, she lifted the letter that was still sitting on top of it, one that had been delivered just a little over a month ago.

_Dear everyone,_

_Hi, guys. I know it's not been very long since the last time I wrote to you all, but something's come up. See, in about a week or so from the day I'm writing this, Eon and I are going to be going on a super long trip. So long, that we're not sure when we'll be back, and neither's our client._

_Remember I mentioned about our new friend Hoopa a few letters back? Well, he came to us today and asked if we could help with a problem. He's gonna send us far away, to a place that needs some help, for a mission. But since it's so far away, it's not really gonna be possible to send letters back and forth, and it'd be a bit rude to ask Hoopa to send them for me. He's bound to be busy too, after all._

_Inari's still going to be running, obviously. Vespiquen and Ariados have volunteered to take over the major running of stuff, since they know how to handle it, and the other pairs are going to be doing missions even while we're gone, so if you want to send letters they'll handle collecting them so Eon and I can see them when we get back. Hopefully we won't be gone too long, but Hoopa doesn't think it's likely to be a short mission no matter what we do, so it's probably gonna be a while._

_Wish us luck, everyone!_

_Love, Shadow._

The family had written back and sent it, but there'd been no reply, so Kuibiena had no idea if she'd received the letter and not had time to write back before leaving, or if they'd missed her.

Shaking her head firmly, she placed it back into the box with all the other letters and shut the lid, placing it on a high shelf. Moments later, her four kits came storming back into the room, each wearing a little scarf- yellow, green, blue, and red- and a matching colour bag. They'd been sent as a twelfth birthday gift from Shadow, to match the bag and scarf combination they'd given her as a group just before she left for Alma, and they'd promptly taken pride of place for all four of them. A little Pokè purse was clipped to each one, sitting in a little inside pocket, a design that made it a little hard to get to but for the most part was useful.

"Ready to go, Momma." Elixa said, while the other three waited patiently.

"Yes, I can see that." She chuckled, standing and herding them towards the front door. She paused for a moment to nuzzle Lukos again. "I'll see you when you get back."

"Have fun, dear." He replied, heading into the kitchen and through the back door, going towards the meeting point for his work. Kuibiena watched for a moment, then followed her kits, taking the key from Elixa and locking the door behind her. Kaltria and Luriean were already most of the way down the road, talking rapidly about something- she wasn't sure what, though little snippets floated back to her on occasion. Deltien was trailing behind them, looking like he was thinking hard, and Elixa was perfectly happy to trot alongside her mother, looking around and just enjoying the walk down to the town and the marketplace.

In all, despite the lack of one of her kits, Kuibiena was still glad to have her family around her.


	3. Birthdays

**This one is a collection of scenes, crossing thirteen years, mostly about the same day. Happy SEW birthday, everyone.**

* * *

Birthdays

The day her clutch was born, there was a rather large celebration.

Kuibeina supposed she shouldn't have been surprised, really. She had a large family, and while it was rare that she saw many of the oldest, a new clutch hatching was one of those things that always drew a bit of a crowd.

"Aaww, aren't you cute?" Her brother cooed, fussing over the oldest of the group. She seemed pleased with it, making the happy little chirp noises that only the very young could really manage.

"Naymos, please leave Elixa alone." She sighed, laughing even so. "You're going spoil her at this rate."

"What's a little spoiling of my niece?" The Mightyena grinned back, nuzzling the baby Absol's side.

Rolling her eyes, Kuibeina let them wander around the rest of the room, where her other hatchlings were being doted on by some others in her family. There was Deltien, with her sister Lita and her mate Kel, her mate was with his two brothers and a sister letting them fuss over Kaltria, Luriean was napping in his basket with his sister-

There was a quiet knock on the door, and the Serperior beside it opened it, still engaged in her conversation with her Mightyena mate- her grandparents through her father's side, wonderful Pokemon both- to let a Ninetales and Mightyena in, the latter more stooped with age than the former, but both bright-eyed as they looked at the controlled chaos in the room before them.

"Mama, Pa!" She called in greeting, not wanting to leave her two sleeping Vulpix alone. Her parents came straight over, her mother leading, and nuzzled her cheek in greeting.

"Hello, little 'Beina." Her Pa greeted, the hyena Pokemon butting her side. "Quite the party, I see."

"Apologies that we're late, daughter." Mama added. "There was some issue with the teleport Pokemon before we left."

"I'm just glad you're both here, Mama, Pa." Kuibeina smiled, her tails waving back and forth gently- carefully, so as not to wake the sleeping kits with the movements. "I know you said you would come, but when you didn't arrive, I was worried."

"We wouldn't miss this for the world or stars, 'Beina." Pa assured her easily. "Now, I see two little hatchlings here," he nodded at the sleeping pair, "But where are the others?"

"Lukos has Kaltira, meeting her aunt and uncles, while Naymos has a hold on Elixa at the moment, they're over by Lita and Kel, Deltien is there too," she frowned slightly as the two Absol cuddled into each others sides, the three adults apparently overwhelming them.

Pa followed her gaze, a similar frown. "I think I'll go over there and rescue the two of them and bring them back here." The Mightyena set off, the body language of a Pokemon on a mission, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Pa." Turning back to her Mama, who had been scanning the room curiously, she continued, "This is a lot... _more_, than I thought it would be."

"It's a new clutch, love." Mama returned. "You've been to other reunions before, why would this one be any different?"

"I don't know." She admitted, with a laugh. "But it was surprising to see so many Pokemon here." The room was mostly full, though she knew that some family would be leaving to make room for others to show up soon. Those with hatchlings of their own would be showing up much later, in order to let the newest family members meet and spend time with their various cousins and such.

"It won't be for long." Mama assured. "Soon it'll be back to just you two and your kits."

"I'm welcoming it, honestly. These five are tiring work."

"You all were as bad." The elder Ninetales looked down at the basket by their side, and the two Vulpix sleeping within, lying with their heads on each others tails. "Two in a clutch of five..."

"They're the calmest out of all of them." Kuibeina told her. "They tend to just sleep. Elixa, Deltien and Kaltria wake up all hours of the day and night for stuff."

"They'll grow up out of that soon enough." She chuckled. "Then you'll have five kits leading their own little adventures." She smiled again. "Which one's which?"

"Luriean's the one on the left." The proud mother explained. "Shadow's on the right."

"Her fur's slightly darker than her little brother's..." Mama mused. "I take it that's part of the reason for her name?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"I see..." Leaning down to gently nuzzle the sleeping kits, she smiled. "I think little Shadow here is likely to be very interesting when she grows up." She said. "I'm rather looking forward to it, I think."

Kuibeina raised an eyebrow at her Mama, who didn't respond, and it was promptly swept towards the back of her mind by her Pa, with the two elder Absol carefully carried by the scruff of their necks.

* * *

For the kits first birthday, it was primarily the seven of them. The five kits were still spending a lot of time sleeping, but they also had some _very_ long days where all they did was run about their play room.

Kuibeina was lucky that Lukos was normally available to keep an eye on them when that started going on. His danger sense could easily be tuned to making sure that the kits didn't hurt themselves playing or get too exhausted running about. It was _much_ harder to do herself, especially since she couldn't exactly just separate them all with Extrasensory- though her Miracle Eye had gotten a lot better since the kits had hatched.

Today was just a day where they were playing games, though. The family had sent over a large number of assorted gifts, and the end result meant that there were numerous chasey or chewy things scattered around the playroom, as well as the remains of the wrapping paper for whenever the kits got bored and decided that shredding things was more fun.

There'd also been a number of books for young Pokemon delivered, though at the minute the five were having too much fun running about to think about _reading_, no matter what the subject was.

Lukos was watching over them now, as they chased things around the room, while Kuibeina was having a quiet cup of tea before she went in to drag them out for cake.

The sugar rush she knew she'd have to put up with later was worth it to see her kits so happy, in her mind.

A knock at the door made her raise an eyebrow and place her teacup on one side, standing from her chair and trotting over to it.

"Mama! Pa!" She exclaimed, seeing the two familiar faces. "What _are_ you doing here?"

"You didn't think we'd miss our grandkit's first birthday, did you?" Mama grinned, slipping in. "The teleport was a bit difficult to set up, admittedly, but we managed."

"Where're Lukos and the kits?" Pa asked, looking around. The front room hadn't changed much in the month since they'd last been, Kuibeina knew, but it was more the Mightyena making sure that they were all taking care of themselves ok, rather than looking for differences.

"They're all in the playroom, Lukos is keeping an eye on them while they chase things around." She explained, closing the door and leading the way back to the table. "I was just having a cup of tea before getting the cake out." He nodded, while the elder Ninetales made herself at home in the little kitchen, coming back a few minutes later with two more cups of tea.

"Ah, good." Mama smiled. "Well, no reason to make them wait for cake, I suppose. I'll give them all my gift later."

"Are you sure you'll manage to get them to sit still that long?" Kuibeina checked, knowing what her mother meant by gift.

She chuckled. "Of course. No matter how energetic, kits always calm down for one of our family's stories."

"Not that you wouldn't know that." Pa laughed as well. "You probably use it to get them to settle to sleep. I know we did with you." Kuibeina blushed, nodding. It _was_ the best way to get them to fall asleep; send them off with one of the stories she knew as part of a Talekeeper family.

The three drank their tea quietly, discussing little things like the weather over the top of it, before the mother went to fetch her mate and five kits for the cake.

The five of them entered the room with despondent faces, not knowing why they were being pulled away from their game and not liking it at all. It was Kaltria that noticed them first, being at the front of the group squeezing through the door- they still hadn't quite figured out the concept of _'single file lines'_.

"Gram! Gramp!" They cheered, suddenly brightening. There were a few trips as they all suddenly picked up the pace and sprinted for their grandparents, who chuckled and scooped them up into hugs.

"Hello, little kits." Pa smiled widely. "How's your birthday?"

The usual tumble of voices as five one-year-olds all tried to get their side of the story across at the same time followed, with only little snippets of it being actually able to be heard, but both of the elder Pokemon smiled and nodded as if they understood completely.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're all having a good time." Mama told them, as Deltien finally ran out of steam to talk about his day. "Now, how about we all sit down and let your Mama here tell you why she interrupted playtime?"

They tilted heads slightly in sync, making Kuibeina grin at the cuteness of it.

"Not Gram?" Luriean asked slowly. Mama chuckled.

"Well, I might be _part_ of the reason your Mama called you out, but I wasn't the main one." She admitted. "Now, you five come and sit here at the table, yes?" The five padded over, apparently still working over the situation in their heads as best as they could, and let themselves be arranged on the seats set aside for them at the table.

All eyes widened when she levitated a set of five cakes over to them, each with a little candle on the top. They were only small- the kits were still young, after all, and honestly Kuibeina didn't want to know how much trouble they would be on a serious sugar rush- but to the little ones that didn't matter.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…" She led, placing them down. "Happy birthday dear kits, happy birthday to you."

Lukos smiled down at them as they gaped at the cakes, fire reflecting from their eyes. "Would you like to blow the candles out?" They looked up at him, then nodded, all inhaling.

It took a little bit of effort, and the tiniest bit of help from Mama when none of them were looking via an Extrasensory, but all of the candles were blown out. Carefully, Kuibeina plucked them from the top, leaving the little cakes alone.

"Can have?" Elixa asked. She chuckled, nodding.

"Yes, Elixa, you can have the cakes."

Unsurprisingly, there was very little talking for a while after that, as they dug into the cakes. Mama had gotten up to make another round of tea a little way in, handing them around, before sitting to wait.

"Now," she said, once they were finished. They all looked up at her, curious. "Who wants to hear a story?"

"Me!" They all cheered, making her laugh.

"Well, let's get you out of those seats and down to the mats, and Gram can tell you a story, ok?" Kuibeina offered, walking around the table. With the cooperation of the kits- as in, them actually sitting still and waiting for once, rather than wriggling to get down to the floor faster- she soon had them all down on the ground and trailing towards the mats in the corner of the main room, where Kuibeina would often tell them stories if she wasn't trying to get them to go to bed.

Once they were all comfortable, and Mama had lifted her tea, she sat herself down between her mate and Pa to let her Mama talk.

"Long ago, back when all the world was covered in forests, there was a group of travelling Pokemon…" She began, in a soothing voice.

Kuibeina leaned against her mate, letting the familiar tale roll over her, as her kits listened, entranced.

* * *

By the time the kits had reached their second birthday, the family of seven were no longer living in the large city of Obiva, instead having moved to a much smaller town called Fori. While it placed them all further away from their family, and Lukos had had to arrange a transfer to a different branch of the Pokemon Expedition and Archaeology Team, but they'd both felt that it was a better place to raise their kits than the bustle of the big city. Plus, with Teleports, it wasn't exactly much of a hassle for their family to come and visit, or for them to go there instead.

The house was also rather larger, with extra bedrooms for when the five grew up and decided that they wanted their own; for now they all wanted to stay in the same room, where they could snuggle up together, but soon enough that would start becoming difficult as they got larger. The downstairs space was much bigger, allowing for more of a kitchen, a playroom was set to one side with plans to renovate into a library or Talekeeper room once the kits were older, and this house had a back garden, with enough space to be used for teaching the kits their Moves and also growing berries, which Kuibeina planned to sell at the town market.

The kits had already made a lot of friends among the younger Pokemon around Fori, in fact, which was part of the reason she was glad for the massive back garden. At the moment, it had a table set up, full of food, and a big birthday banner for all of them hanging off the poles set up- unfortunately there weren't any trees big enough to use yet, and probably wouldn't be for a while.

Either way, soon the five of them would be coming down, not having any sort of surprise party this year because they wanted to invite all their friends, and then the garden would be full of happy children running around and playing games.

Kuibeina was slightly disappointed that her Mama couldn't be here for this one, but she and Pa had visited only a week ago to drop off the kit's presents and wish them a happy birthday, so the kit's wouldn't mind.

Mama had said that the main reason was because she knew they'd want their new friends over to play, so they didn't want to get in the way, which was nice.

Still, as the five kits stumbled out into the garden with wide smiles and party hats, and the guests from Fori started arriving with greetings and gifts, Kuibeina decided that she didn't mind too much that her family weren't able to visit.

There were plenty of Pokemon here, after all, and whatever made her kits happy was perfect.

* * *

The five didn't get a chance to really celebrate their third birthday, due to the fact that two days before it they'd ended up attending their first family hatching gathering. The timing had felt a bit sour to Kuibeina, even though logically she knew it wasn't _really_ reasonable for her to try and blame her sister-in-law for the fact that her little tribe had hatched so closely to her own, but watching the kits run around and coo over the new Poochyena and Rattata hatchlings that were being shown around took a lot of the edge off.

"Aren't they cute like that?" Lukos whispered in her ear. She took her eyes off Shadow for a moment to look up at him, then nodded as she found her kit again in the crowd.

"They are, yes. How're your brother and sister?"

"They're ok, just tired."

"I'm not surprised." She muttered. "Five was bad enough, I can't imagine having to deal with _thirteen_."

"They'll manage, in the end. Besides, our five grew up rather faster than these will, so we had a _lot_ more time with them causing trouble." Lukos chortled, then paused. "Speaking of which, where's Deltien?"

"He's with your mother and a couple of the pups." She told him immediately. "I saw them a minute ago, he seemed to be doing alright, if being a bit of an annoyance like normal."

"He's still cute enough to get away with it, I suppose." He sighed. "I'll leave him for a while, then go drag him away if he causes trouble."

"I think that's just the basic plan of action for all of our kits, really." Kuibeina grinned, spotting Elixa and Kaltria bobbing through the crowd, chattering to their great-grandmother while the Serperior in question slithered through the mess that was a family hatch gathering. Shadow had joined Luriean- _how did she manage to get to the other side of the room in the space of a few seconds?_\- in talking to some of the cousins more their age, catching up on how everything was going in that funny way only young children could manage.

Instead, their birthday that year was a quiet affair with gifts arriving in the mail, a bit of running about playing games, some reading in the corner, cake, and a sugar rush that still hadn't worn off by the time they were supposed to go to bed.

_I suppose letting them stay up for a little while longer won't hurt in the end._ Kuibeina decided, watching them bounce about the playroom after a dozen different coloured balls. _At least it'll calm them down somewhat._

* * *

At their fourth birthday, Kuibeina was wondering if this was revenge for the relative peace of the day a year before.

"And what have we learned from all this?" She asked sternly, looking down her nose at the five. She remembered it being an effective way of Furretting the truth out of young Pokemon from when _she_ was younger, and it seemed to still work just as well, since they were squirming under the gaze.

"To only set off food fights when the adults won't see?"

All except Deltien, who'd inherited her mate's stubbornness and then some, plus some sarcasm from somewhere.

Kaltria swiped at her slightly-elder brother, ignoring his return growl as she said meekly, "Don't start food fights at a party?"

"Don't cause chaos?"

Kuibeina barked out a laugh at Elixa's suggestion, all veneers of seriousness forgotten. "Honestly, asking you lot not to cause chaos is like asking the Sun not to shine. Still, not quite, you three."

"Ask permission before starting a food fight?"

"Tell you beforehand what we want, so you can make stuff sepif- sessip- just for it?"

She grinned down at the two Vulpix, who were smirking slightly in return. "Pretty much, you two. Yes, Lur, I'd like to know if you wanted to start a food fight, and the other parents probably would as well, and yes, Shadow, knowing beforehand that you wanted to do it would mean I could make stuff specifically for the fight, leaving the rest of the food alone and giving you stuff that's easy to clean up."

"Speaking of which," Lukos put in, looking over the five of them, "Cleaning up is something you all should be thinking about as well."

The kits were splattered with various sauces and juices; while it was most visible on the snowy white coats of the three Absol, there were still stains on both Vulpix as well. Elixa in particular seemed to be attempting to become a collage painting with the number of different berry juices on her coat, leaving her more of a red-yellow-purple-green mix than white. Deltien had managed to get most of the orange drink juice along his back, Luriean was so yellow and glittery he could be mistaken for a shiny Pokemon, the horn on Kaltria's head had an apple stuck on it in addition to her coat having a rather large splodge of Tamato Berry juice running down her side, and Shadow seemed to be attempting to become a salad.

Actually, on second glance, Kuibeina was pretty sure that whoever was responsible for her elder Vulpix's state had just upturned the salad bowl on her, given the lettuce and Tamato stuck in her head crest, the fur on her tail had Pinap Berries in it, and there were dozens of little bits of berry scattered around the ground that had probably fallen off while she was running around using the mustard bottle as a beam weapon.

"Ok, Pa!" They all chorused, running over to the hose by the side of the house. She exchanged an exasperated look with her mate.

"Well, at least it's not boring." He commented. She thwapped him with the end of her tail.

"Oh, be quiet and help me clean this up." She commanded in return, starting to use Extrasensory to remove bits of sandwiches from the ground and put them in the bin.

She could still hear him snickering as they made their way around the garden.

* * *

Luckily for Kuibeina's slowly declining sanity, the kits decided they didn't want a big birthday party for their fifth birthday, so instead the family had sat around playing board games and eating silly party food after opening their gifts.

Between the group of them packing up the board game- it was still unfinished, so Kuibeina was sure to preserve it for if they wanted to continue it the next day- and the kits going upstairs to get ready for a story and bed, the Ninetales ended up facing a slightly nervous-looking Shadow.

"Is something wrong, kit?"

"Not… really, Mama?" She said, biting her lip. Kuibeina sat, sweeping her tails around her, and placing the littler kit between her paws.

"Say, then." She encouraged. "I can't help otherwise."

"Canyouteachmethestories?"

She blinked. "Pardon?"

"Stories." Shadow tried again. "Can you teach me?"

"You… want to pick up Talekeeping?" She checked, a little surprised when the female nodded. Five was… young, to be learning most of the stories, but there were definitely a few that she could teach her- well, a lot more than a _few_, admittedly, but when the archive of stories her family knew or stored was somewhere in the thousands that wasn't a big shock- at her age. "Are you sure?"

"Mhm." She nodded a second time. "Your stories're cool. I wanna be able to tell cool stories too."

"Alright." Kuibeina hummed. "You go to bed now, and I'll come up to tell you all a story in the big room in a minute, then sometime over the next few days I can start teaching you some of the easier ones."

"Thanks, Mama!" Shadow cheered, stretching up to bump her nose against hers. She leaned down a little to make it easier, and the Vulpix quickly jumped up and went running for the stairs.

Kuibeina watched her go, still a little shocked, then sighed and shook her head. Standing and shaking out her tails, she followed after her second eldest daughter, mentally planning out the letter she was going to write to Mama for advice.

Perhaps she'd be able to drop by for a visit to help her teach. She had the experience in it, after all.

* * *

They ended up at a water park for their sixth birthday.

Kuibeina had no idea how she'd managed to get talked into this, and honestly she wasn't completely certain Shadow or Luriean knew either, but apparently the three Absol kits had decided on it at some point and browbeaten their siblings into agreeing with them. They seemed to be having fun, though, even with the Fire type's being constantly splashed with water.

And also the Water types of the group having taken it upon themselves to use Water Gun or Bubble on any Pokemon that strayed too close.

The adults were spending their time around the outside of the pool area, watching over their smaller kits and socialising. Lukos was wandering around with a slight rainbow sheen over his horn, keeping an eye on the children that way- any of them being hurt would be a disaster, after all.

"This isn't quite what I would've expected from a birthday party for your kits." Alika, an Electivire who was looking wearily at the water park, noted, inching a little further away from the edge.

"It's not what I was expecting either, believe me." She laughed. "But you know what those five get like when they want something."

"At least it's not going to be as messy as the one a couple years back." Mitul grimaced, both faces looking upset. "I looked like I was strawberry flavoured for a few days after that."

"There, there." Jillim sympathised, patting the Vanilluxe on the side. "At least you didn't have to clean it up."

"Neither did you!" Kuibeina reminded the Reuniclus. "You lot just left us to deal with it."

"I never said I helped." He grinned. "Just that Mitul didn't have to." The three of them chuckled together for a few moments, watching as a pair of Elekid and one of the Vanillite worked together to aim one of the larger water guns positioned around the large park- put in for those Pokemon who couldn't go into the pools because it was unsafe, but still wanted to join in with their siblings or friends that _were_ able to swim around- at the group of birthday kits and fired a massive blob of water at them.

They shrieked in surprise, along with the Totodile and Meowth that were with them, and the parents laughed aloud when another canon went off behind them, aimed by one of Jillim's Solosis with Confusion and fired by a Ralts that had gotten bored with swimming, and took advantage of the surprise created by the scream to hit another group.

A large water fight promptly started up, with the Pokemon on the canons being hit a few times as well. The adults quickly backed away from the edge, retreating instead to the safety of the food area behind the glass wall, thus shielding them from the water spray outside.

* * *

When the kits were seven, they ended up visiting Mama and Pa at their home at the bottom of the Winterhaunt Mountain. The mountain was on one side of a rather large forest, with the city of Obiva on the other side, but the forest was big enough that the small village had its own branch of the Teleport Guild.

"Gram!" The five called, storming into the building to hug the taller Ninetales.

"Hello, little ones." Mama greeted, sweeping all of them into a hug- with a little difficulty, given how much taller they were all getting and the length of the Absol's horns- before passing them over to Pa. "How are all of the birthday kits doing?"

They broke into chatter, talking about the gifts that had been opened that morning before the teleport- some from family, sent through the post, while others had been dropped off during the previous days by friends in Fori. Pa chuckled, leading them into the living room to sit down, while Kuibeina and Lukos smiled at Mama.

"I swear, it's like they haven't seen you in forever." Lukos grinned widely, giving her a hug. "Though it _is_ nice to see you again."

"Good to see you too, child." Mama nuzzled him, opening the hug to her daughter as well. "And I can't really blame them. To a hatchling, a month _is_ an eternity, especially when it comes to family. I know I hated it when I didn't see my Gram for more than a few days."

"I suppose when you're young it's hard to comprehend it being difficult to travel to visit." Kuibeina admitted. "They're getting older, of course, so they'll come to learn pretty soon that it's both difficult and expensive sometimes to travel to see Pokemon."

"They do get money fairly well already, actually." Lukos added. "So it shouldn't be difficult for them to understand. They're rather fond of going shopping in the village with me or Kui."

"Mostly Shadow and Elixa, honestly. They like being seen as grown up." The Ninetales sighed. "Only seven and they want to be seen as grown up… strange."

"That's how things work, I'm afraid." Mama told her, patting her shoulder. "They'll probably grow out of it, amusingly enough."

"I suppose so."

"Now, how about we go and rescue your Pa from the horde and tell our little kits some stories, hm?" She suggested. Kuibeina laughed.

"That'll be one way to keep them happy." She agreed, as she and Lukos went over to the cushions in the corner of the room.

"Kits!" Mama called. "Come here, will you?"

"Sure thing!" They replied, all crowding around her. "What is it, Gram?" Elixa asked.

"Why, I have some stories to tell you, of course." She smiled as they all perked up, running to sit beside Kuibeina and Lukos on the cushions. "Good to see that you're all enthusiastic about it." She added, sitting down beside Pa on another pair. "Now, let's see... long ago, in an ancient forest, there was a shrine..."

Kuibiena let her Mama's voice roll over her again, watching with amusement as her kits eyes sparkled as they listened to the first of many stories.

* * *

It was only when the group hit eight that they started getting more interested in their birthday presents. For the first few years, it was mostly games and toys, and the occasional book, and while it was similar things now, Kuibeina couldn't help but think that there was something strangely _more_ to them in some way.

Maybe it was the fact that the kits were starting to get different interests, more obviously than before, and so presents were chosen with that in mind. Maybe it was because they'd been chosen by their friends themselves, instead of just being picked by their parents but with their friends names on them.

Or perhaps it was because this was the first time where the five of them had personally picked out presents for each other, using their pocket money to buy what they could- and begging her for a little bit extra if they needed it.

Lukos had been the one to organise the presents the night before, making sure that the ones the kits had gotten each other were right at the back, for last. Given that she knew what each of them had brought each other, the mother approved of that decision.

"Ooh..." Kaltria's awed gasp brought her out of her thoughts for a moment, and she smiled at seeing Elixa's gift sitting in front of her, still surrounded by wrapping paper.

The thing in question was a pretty little ornament meant to be hung on horns, which would drape down the side of Kaltria's face when attached to the lower part of her horn. It'd been fairly cheap- Kuibeina had banned them from actually buying anything too expensive for each other, plus it was being bought on a kit's pocket money- but-

"It's _beautiful_." She added, unknowingly completing her mother's thought. "Thanks, Elixa! Now I feel bad about what I got..."

"I'm sure yours is great too, sis." The eldest Absol reassured her.

"Mama, can you put it on for me?" She begged. Smiling a little more, she lifted it up with Extrasensory, carefully undoing the clasp and hooking it around her horn. "Thanks!"

"It's really pretty, Kal." Luriean commented.

"Suits you." Shadow agreed. Deltien just nodded.

"Thanks." She said again, grinning just as widely and with a little blush on her dark cheeks. "Del, you go next!"

Kuibeina settled back beside her mate as the five continued, working their way pretty much randomly through the presents given by their siblings. For the most part, the girls had little sparkly bits, though Deltien had one too; a sort of necklace, or a very glittery scarf, that Shadow seemed to have gotten as a joke. The younger Absol had been happy with it, though, which was nice.

And it _was_ a very nice scarf.

Books had also been traded around, and little games- nothing quite as big as the console Lukos and she had bought them, made by a group of Porygon and other Pokemon as a mimic of the game consoles humans had, but smaller things that would also work well as family games.

Kaltria's gift to Elixa had been jewellery as well, a wrist band that clipped around her paw, and the eldest sibling had given the youngest a hug of thanks for it, declaring that it was _easily_ prettier than what she'd bought. Shadow had brought Deltien an amusing winter hat, knowing he hated the cold, that had a hole in it for his horn, then Luriean had found that the Vulpix had gotten him an absolute ton of sweets and Gummis, teasing him about his sweet tooth when he opened it- which led to him teasing right back about her inability to eat more than a few without going on a sugar rush.

By whatever system they had been working by, Shadow ended up the last one to open a gift; this one from Luriean, her slightly-younger sibling. The elder Vulpix poked at it for a moment, curious.

"Did you get me a book, Lur?" She asked. He blushed, and pointed at it.

"Have a look, if you want to know so bad."

"Planning on it!" She chirped, using one claw to carefully slice through the tape.

A purple book fell out, followed by another lilac one and then three pens, blue, grey and black, for those Pokemon with paws. Glancing at her brother with a raised eyebrow, she flipped through the lilac one, the eyebrow going further when she realised that it was blank.

"I know that when you do Talekeeping stuff with Mama and Gram, you just use bits of paper, and it's kinda a mess." He explained. "So I figured it might make it easier to keep them all in order if you had a book. Then I saw the darker one, so I bought that as well."

Shadow looked blankly at it for a moment, then around at the other things, then at him.

Then she jumped him, ending up tangled in a hug.

"_Thank_ you, Lur!" She cheered.

* * *

On their ninth birthday, after everything had been opened and packed away, Shadow decided to make an announcement.

"I," she declared, using the pile of books and games that she'd accumulated as a stand, "Am going to be a Rescue Pokemon."

Silence greeted that remark from all quarters, since she hadn't even mentioned that to Kuibeina yet, and a glance told her that Lukos hadn't know either- not that he wouldn't've told her straight away if she had.

"But..." Luriean asked, "Aren't you gonna be a Talekeeper?"

"Yeah!" She replied easily, "But I can be a Rescue Pokemon too!"

"That sounds like it'd be hard, though." Elixa put in, head tilted to the side. The new bangle on her horn caught the light as she did, similar to the one she'd bought Kaltria a year before.

"I mean, yeah, kinda, because I'd be learning new stories and also training a lot, but being a Rescue Pokemon would give me chances to travel around the world, and meet new Pokemon, and I could get stories from them!" Her eyes were sparkling slightly at the idea. "I could get stories from places that we'd never managed to go before, because I'm there on a mission, or because the client knew them and was willing to share, or because a Pokemon from far away joined the team!"

Kuibeina met Lukos' eyes, and the two of them padded back a bit while the kits talked.

"Would she be in danger?"

"Of course she would." He snorted. "As a Rescue Pokemon she'd be fighting all manner of things, and doing all manner of crazy missions. She'd probably get into more trouble than I do at my job." Her heart dropped a little. "But she'd also be doing all of this in those Mystery Dungeons, rather than in old ruins or whatever. Those places have strange powers, I've heard, that keep Pokémon in them from getting too badly hurt." He shrugged. "So, really, it's more about if we think we can prepare her."

"She'd have support, right?" She checked.

"There's always the different branches of Adventure Guilds, Wigglytuff Guild is the most common around here I think, and she'd have a team." He assured her. "Even if she started out as the only one on her team, she'd probably be given someone to work with during the basics or something. Or she might have to join a team for at least a little while at the start, then be allowed to make her own team once she has more experience."

"Plus she'd never shut up about it if we didn't let her, or she'd just leave when she was old enough to do it." Kuibeina sighed slightly, then nodded. "If you're ok with it?"

"Only if you are." They traded another look, then the Ninetales stepped forward.

"Alright, Shadow." She said loudly, cutting off the conversation. "We're ok with you becoming a Rescue Pokemon, but there's going to be a few conditions first. Namely, I'm going to start teaching you some Moves and how to use them properly, and you're going to need to prove to us that you can use them. You're also going to learn a lot more about your illusions, how to use them, and how to detect if someone else is using them on you. You'll only be allowed to go and join a Rescue Team- or make you own," she added, seeing the female inhale, "When your Pa and I decide that you're good enough with your Moves and illusions to stay safe. Understand?"

"Yes, Mama!" Shadow nodded frantically, looking like a bobble-head statue. "I'll do just fine, you'll see!"

* * *

She had.

No matter how much Kuibeina might've hated it, and wanted to hold her back again and again just so that she didn't need to see one of her kits leave the den- and so _young_ too! She was still barely a hatching as a Vulpix- she had to admit that Shadow had taken everything they'd thrown at her and come back asking for more. She'd learned Ember with ease, and started messing around in her own time to figure out how to start upgrading it to Flame Burst, Inferno, and then Flamethrower. She'd been doing things with her illusions quite well, though she still struggled with making her Pokemon illusions lifelike enough. There was a Lucario in her family tree, she knew, so she'd spoken around Fori and found that Jillim knew Heal Pulse, though it wasn't the most stable, but he'd been willing to teach Shadow how to do it, even if it only did a tiny bit.

Even her cousin and uncle had gotten in on the mix- though Shadow had gotten into the habit of calling them _'uncle'_ and _'gramp'_ respectively- and taught Shadow Magnet Rise on one of their visits, just to add an extra skill in.

She had a fairly varied Moveset now, with some physical and some ranged Moves, an ability to heal that would grow in time, and a number of different ways to negate weaknesses or lower the damage by boosting her own stats.

It was pretty much accepted by now, both in the family and in Fori, that Shadow was going to be leaving soon. Probably before the end of the year.

This fact seemed to make this birthday a particularly hard one for the others to take; Luriean especially.

The presents weren't much, again just books and bits of jewellery. In fact, pretty much every present gotten by the others was quite small, due to the single gift given to Shadow as a group.

"We all worked together to get this one." Kaltria explained nervously. "Which is why there isn't really much from us. We're sorry about that... do you like it?"

Her elder sister gaped at the present, the paper now scattered across the place, then grinned at her sister. "Of _course_ I do."

The gift in question was a scarf, dark purple, and a white bag with lilac stripes.

"We thought the scarf would be good for you to put your badge on, when you get it." Deltien explained. "Then Elixa suggested that we also get a bag, so you can put stuff that you need or want to keep on you in there."

"There's a little side pouch for Pokè too." Said Absol added. "Though you might not be able to get too much stuff in there... it should be good for berries and that, though, or other items that're important."

"We figured it'd be useful for when you leave to go to Alma." Luriean finished. "We all pooled our money together to get it for you..."

The explanation was cut of by Shadow pulling all of them into a group hug, crying.

"I'm gonna miss you guys..." She sniffled.

"We'll write, and we can always come and visit by Teleport." Elixa reminded her. "We're not gonna fall outta touch." Even the eldest Absol had tears in her eyes, though.

Kuibeina glanced at Lukos, and both parents joined the hug as well, the presents left forgotten on the floor.

* * *

When the kits hit eleven, they decided to play a prank on Shadow.

The group had exchanged letters with Eon a few dozen times since Shadow had teamed up with him in Team Inari, and Kuibeina had arranged with him for Shadow to be dragged put to training most of the day, allowing for the family to Teleport in and set up in the den for a party.

"You would be Kuibeina, yes?" A Machoke asked, standing just outside of the Teleport place.

"Yes, that's me."

"I am Zemo, on Team Inari. Eon sent me to guide you to their den." He explained.

"Oh, thank you." The Ninetales smiled gratefully. "Kits, stay together, ok? Make sure you have everything."

"We've got it, Mama!" Elixa promised, as the rest of them worked together to grab the bags of decorations they were going to set up in the den. Lukos made up the back of the group, and nodded to her that they were fine.

Zemo waited patiently for the family to get into order, then started off, letting them follow him through the streets of the rather large town over to where Shadow had described as the Rescue Team fields.

"Here." He told them, opening the door of a woven hut, large enough for the entire family plus a bit, and stepped aside. "Milliant is looking out for Eon and Shadow. She will tell you when they return."

"Thank you for your help, Zemo." Kuibeina smiled, as the four kits ran in and dropped their bags, starting to search through them for banners and pins. "And please thank Milliant for me as well, will you? You're both being very helpful."

"Family is very important to Shadow." He shrugged. "I am happy to help arrange things for her to spend her birthday with them."

"Thank you anyway." She reiterated. "Not every Pokemon would be willing to help out."

"Inari would." He said. "Inari helps out it's own." The Machoke wandered away, and a Mismagius poked their head through the wall.

"All clear for now, they shouldn't be back until well later this afternoon, so you should have a few hours to set things up." She told them. "I'll just keep an eye on things out here and pop in when they're coming back."

"Thank you, I assume Milliant?" She nodded. "Thank you."

"No problem, ma'am." An arm came through the wall as well, giving a salute, then the Ghost type retreated completely.

"Right then, kits!" Kuibeina called, over the bustle. "Let's get things set up for Shadow, shall we?"

"Yes Mama!" They called back.

* * *

When Shadow and Eon returned to their den a little after three, the entire room was covered in glitter and streamers, there were presents piled in five groups, and the six of them were sitting in the centre of the dark room waiting for them to arrive.

"...but that went really well, I think another few times and I might have Heal Pulse down." Shadow's voice said from just outside the door.

"Dian seemed to think you're doing really well with it, yeah." Eon agreed. "Hopefully you'll be able to figure it out enough for missions soon."

"Then I'm going to start on Heal Bell, I think." She added. "If I can find someone who knows it."

"Maybe Dian does. Or someone on our team."

"Right! I'll ask around." The door slowly creaked open. "We need to put some better windows in here. Or get better blinds or something, it's stupidly dark-"

"Surprise!" The family chorused, making her yelp.

"Guys!"

Eon doubled over laughing, and she spun to glare at him.

"You knew about this?"

"Eon helped set it up." Lukos told her. "And had a couple of your team mates help us out too." She grinned, tackling him in a hug.

"Thanks, Eon."

"You're welcome." He smiled in return, patting her back. "Now, why don't you go catch up with your siblings and open your presents."

"Will do!" She laughed, storming her siblings and getting a group hug going.

Eon headed into one of the side rooms, coming out a little while later with a tray of tea things. The three settled down on the side, watching the eleven-year-olds enthusiastically open gifts.

* * *

When they were twelve, Eon and Shadow decided to reverse the prank. Organising it through letters had taken a while, but they'd set everything up for the four siblings to be out of the house with Lukos while the Rescue Pokemon Teleported in and made their way to the house.

"Hello again, Eon." Kuibeina welcomed, pulling them into the house. "We've got most of everything set up, we're just waiting on you two."

"Hi, Mama." Shadow smiled, hugging her and trotting by. "Where're the presents?"

"Over by the table." She called back, as she and Eon swapped amused glances. "Your team doing ok?"

"It's going well, ma'am." The shiny nodded. "Shadow spent a lot of money recently buying the recipe for Max Elixers, which was worth it, but it means the entire team's been pulling longer shifts to make up the money. We had to be pretty careful with the scheduling to make sure we got here."

"The Teleport cost isn't going to cause trouble, is it?" She checked, concerned. He shook his head.

"No, ma'am. We're managing fine, and we have savings for things like this. Sometimes we use the Teleport service to get closer to Dungeons for missions, we just tapped into that. Might have to take some more difficult jobs for more money when we get home, but the other squads in the team can manage fine."

"Alright." She said softly. "But don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it, ok?"

"We will, ma'am."

"Eon!" Shadow called, trotting over. "Can I have the presents?"

"Here." He handed over the Wonder Bag that was on his back, letting her take it with Extrasensory.

"Thanks."

"What did you get them?" Kuibeina asked, as her daughter wandered off again.

"It's mostly Shadow's gift, but you'll see in a bit." He smirked. "When are the others getting back?"

She glanced at the clock. "About an hour from now."

"Excellent." He went off to see what Shadow was doing, and she rolled her eyes, going towards the kitchen to put the tea on.

* * *

"Surprise!"

"Shadow!" Luriean shouted, recovering first and piling into a hug.

"Hey, slightly-littler-brother." She grinned, patting his head. "I am home for the birthday!"

"Brilliant!" Kaltria laughed. "I was wondering why we weren't sending you your presents by mail. I thought we were going to Teleport again."

"Nope." Eon put in, from where he was standing by the side of the present piles. "We decided we'd come to visit."

"Hi, Eon." Deltien waved. "Now, presents?"

"You all need to open mine last, and at the same time." Shadow warned, and she handed the first one on Deltien's pile over. "But yeah, presents."

Thus followed the standard mania that was opening presents on their birthday. Kuibeina, Lukos and Eon sat on the side, drinking tea and quietly chatting about things, until the group got through the pile.

Shadow had gotten a cool hat from the four, which apparently boosted healing abilities- tested by Jillim to make sure it worked- and was looking eagerly at her siblings as they all slit open her gift to them.

"Oh!" Elixa gasped quietly.

"I thought it would be nice if we matched, so I got all of you ones as well." She said quietly. "They were custom done at one of the stores in Alma."

Each one of her siblings had in front of them a pair of a scarf and a bag, in matching colours. Elixa's scarf was a beautiful yellow, while the bag was white with gold stripes, Deltien's was an emerald colour while the bag was forest green, Luriean had a royal blue scarf with a sky blue striped bag, and Kaltria's was a bright, firey red scarf with a bag that had a much darker, more burnished red for the stripes. They were all clearly based on the lilac striped bag and purple scarf that she'd been given when she was ten, just before she left.

"_Thank_ you, Shadow." Kaltria sniffed, pulling them into another group hug.

* * *

For their thirteenth birthday, one of them was missing.

The group was a lot quieter for that, and one pile of presents sat unopened on the side.

* * *

**I came up with this on Sunday, and only had time to finish it this morning. Still, here, a gift for you all. Thanks for one year of _A Shadow, an Eon, and a Worm_. Without you all, this wouldn't have been much more than a collection of snippets gathering dust. I'll do my best to get another chapter out soon, but school's started up again and everything's come to a bit of a bustle. I hope you all enjoyed this glance into Shadow's life before SEW started, and I hope there's much more to come.**

**Thank you, so much.**

**Shadow.**


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